One system between customer artwork and production.
Prepta takes the file the customer actually sent, works out what it is, checks it against the rules of the workflow it is going into, repairs what can be repaired safely, validates the result and escalates the rest. Output is a production file with a record of everything that changed.
Object model
- Job
- One customer order. Holds files, the assigned production profile and the current status.
- File
- A single piece of artwork as supplied, preserved unchanged.
- Preflight
- One run of the profile’s checks against a file version, with results and severities.
- Issue
- A single finding: what, where, the measurement, and the policy that applies to it.
- Repair
- One applied transformation, with its parameters and the rule that authorised it.
- Production profile
- The versioned rules for one workflow: requirements, tolerances, automation policy.
- Version
- An output state of a file. v1 is always what the customer sent.
- Review
- An open decision assigned to an operator, with the recommendation attached.
Accepts what customers actually send
Files arrive as PDFs and as images, from a portal, an inbox or a member of staff. Prepta fingerprints each one, records it as supplied, and classifies the likely source before any judgement is made about quality.
Source classification is reported as a likelihood with a confidence level. It informs the recommendation; it does not override profile rules.
Formats today
PDF and common raster formats. Which are acceptable is set per profile.
Fingerprinting
Duplicate and near-duplicate submissions identified across a job.
Source classification
Camera photo, screenshot, web asset, design-tool export, Office export, design application.
Original preservation
The supplied file is stored unchanged as version 1.
Checked against your workflow, not a generic standard
Every check runs against the production profile assigned to the job. The same file can pass for a banner and fail for a sticker, which is the point.
Findings carry a severity — error, warning or information — so the report can be acted on rather than read in full.
Geometry
Page size, trim and bleed boxes, orientation, dimensions against the order.
Colour
Colour spaces, output intent, spot colour definitions, overprint.
Images
Effective DPI at final size, compression, colour depth.
Text
Font embedding and subsetting, minimum sizes.
Output
Transparency, PDF standard compliance, cut contours, vector integrity.
Applies only what the profile authorises
Repairs are policy-driven. Each issue type carries an automation policy in the profile, and Prepta cannot exceed it — so enabling automation is a decision you make per rule, not per file.
Policies: AUTO applies and logs. AUTO + REVIEW applies and asks for confirmation. REVIEW proposes only. BLOCK stops the job. IGNORE records without acting.
Colour
RGB to CMYK against the named output profile, with shifts reported.
Bleed
Edge extension to the required amount where content allows.
Transparency
Flattening where the profile requires flattened output.
Cut contours
Generation and correction where the outline is unambiguous.
Vector
Removal of empty paths and duplicate points that do not change appearance.
Re-checks its own output before releasing it
A repaired file is preflighted again against the same profile version. A file is only marked ready when the output passes, and the profile version it passed against is recorded on the job.
Nothing is released on the assumption that a repair worked.
Re-preflight
Full check of the output file, not only of the changed properties.
Standard output
PDF/X output as configured, with page boxes set.
Status
READY, FIXED, REVIEW, BLOCKED or PROCESSING, per file and per job.
Profile version
Recorded on the job, so a later rule change does not rewrite history.
Hands over the decisions with the evidence attached
Escalations arrive as a queue of decisions, each with the measurement behind it, the affected area, and a recommendation. Every automatic change made before the escalation is visible in the same place.
The customer file is never overwritten, so any repair can be compared against the original or discarded.
Review queue
Open decisions per job, with recommendation and measurement.
Audit trail
What changed, the values used, the rule that permitted it, who confirmed it.
Versions
Every output state retained and comparable against v1.
Reporting
Per-job report suitable for sending to the customer.
See it on one of your own files.
Run the free check on a file that gave your team trouble last week — or compare Prepta to Acrobat Preflight and PitStop.